Following on from the excruciatingly close one-wicket defeat last weekend, Petersfield’s 2bd XI made the short trip down the A3 to face big-hitting opposition in the form of Kerala (Portsmouth) CC’s 3rd XI, visiting a very familiar ground after several visits over the past couple of seasons – this year the ground proved to be as open as desolate as ever, with the added bonus of their being no electricity in the pavilion – someone clearly forgetting to put 50p in the meter…
Research suggested that batting first would be preferable, only compounded by an inspection of the pitch that yielded a great deal of grass on top of a very hard and seemingly crumbly surface. With no idea how the wicket would play later in the day, Petersfield Captain Steve Gibson called correctly and elected to bat first (tosswatch: Gibson doing well so far, 3 wins from 5 tosses in the league so far). With complete darkness in the dressing rooms, Petersfield’s top order got padded up by torchlight… After the inevitable shouts of “That’s not your bat handle!” and no one knowing where Rich Stephens’ kit explosion would have left his stuff, the game got underway following a short delay to allow the Kerala captain to arrive…
Petersfield opening duo of Tom Horwood (1) and Jake Hastie (26) made their way to middle and were quickly met with accurate and skilful bowling from the Kerala attack, with Lalu Anthony (2-10) and Jeeva Chandran (3-29) intent on making life tough for their visitor’s top order. It was the bowlers who asserted dominance early on, with Anthony removing Horwood clean bowled in the first over, with Jeeva’s late in-swing a persistent threat at the other end, removing Steve Gibson (6) not too long after, again clean bowled taking the top of the skipper’s off stump. Fergus Maclean (3) came and went… Riding his luck with a couple of lofted shots before being caught on the second time of asking off Anthony. Petersfield’s young wicketkeeper Isaac Powerbank (3) came out at number 5 but couldn’t get the accurate bowling away and was removed by the impressive away swing of Rijo John (1-11), squaring him up to clean bowl him. With Petersfield early wobble fast turning into a major collapse, Hastie helplessly watching the revolving door at the other end, he would have been pleased to see the experience of Rich Stephens (26) come to the crease. The pair set about a rebuilding job, rotating the strike and putting away the odd bad delivery that did come about once the miserly Anthony had finished his spell (going for just 10 runs in 8 overs). The rebuild only went so far, however, as Chandran returned to strike a critical double blow, removing both Stephens (bowled, with a fantastic yorker) and Hastie caught short after. There was minimal resistance from Petersfield thereafter… Suraj Sashidharan (8*) battled away for little reward, as Frank Straw (9) could consider himself unfortunate to be well caught from a firmly-struck rising cover drive off the bowling of Manoj Prem Kumar (2-9), with Georgie Russel (0) dismissed first ball (caught low by the wicket keeper) off Pradeesh Rajasekharan Nair (2-9), Adam Kidd (1) falling shortly after to Kumar, with Nair completing the job removing Nathan Barlow (0) without troubling the scorers.
Petersfield disappointed to be bowled out for just 92, but credit has to go to the well-disciplined Kerala attack for really turning the screw on the visitors throughout the entire innings. “Bring Your Own Tea” today, so an assortment of home made treated scoffed down as sweepstakes were made on how many overs the hard-hitting Kerala line up would need to knock the total off (the smart money was in the range of 7-11 overs…).
With both sides fed and watered, the second innings got underway. As predicted, the Kerala openers (and rest of top order, and middle order…) came out swinging… But it was actually the Petersfield opening pair of Steve Gibson (3-28) and Adam Kidd (2-35) that made the early headway. Although runs did come quickly, this wasn’t before the removal of Rajumon Kurian (16), Manoj Prem Kumar (0), Rijo John (2), Pradeesh Rajasekharan Nair (15) and Arun Isaac (8). Kerala’s victory far from assured with them five down and only on 52… Frank Straw (1-11) was
introduced, as was Nathan Barlow (0-17) in an attempt to keep the batters guessing. Straw, whilst leaking a a few runs, did remove Arun Kumar (9) to keep Petersfield interested, but as is often the case, getting into the tail end of a Kerala line up doesn’t make a lot of difference… Chirag Badga (36*) coming out at number 7 looked the most assured of all batters on the day, playing glorious lusty straight blows, delicate late cuts and powerful pulls to race Kerala towards their target, securing victory for the hosts with two consecutive pulls for four off Barlow.
So, Kerala made to work for their win in the end, but ultimately the hosts won by 4 wickets. Petersfield will rue a top order batting collapse that made a competitive total unlikely… Just another 40-50 runs likely would have made a very enticing contest. Petersfield would though have been pleased to both pick up some bowling points and ruin a few averages along the way in the second innings… Still, a day for the 2nd XI to chalk up to experience and move forward to next week’s home game against Bedhampton Mariners who, like Petersfield, are three wins from five at the sharp end of the table.

Author :Tom Horwood